


Heart Shaped Box

by Soldsoulpunk



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Murder House
Genre: Before Murder House, F/M, Fluff and Angst, High School, but I'm pretty heavy with the fluff, mostly angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 08:36:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20239930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soldsoulpunk/pseuds/Soldsoulpunk
Summary: Lilith Mason and her dysfunctional parents move to Los Angeles in the Summer of 1993. Fully expecting her senior year of high school to be just as terrible as the last 17 years of her life, she's caught off guard when the nice boy from up the street teaches her a lot more about herself than she would've ever expected.





	1. Disarm You With A Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is a fic I had started writing a long time ago, and I just feel like I have a lot of writing to get out of my system, so lets see how running two fics goes for me.

_"This is bullshit" _not only had mom and dad made me leave my home for the last 17 years, but they dragged me out to Los Angeles. Utah wasn't a cake walk, not being a religious kid, but I had a little group of friends and that was enough for me. I was doing really well in school and if _they_ hadn't decided to uproot our lives, I probably would've been valedictorian at graduation next year. But nope, dad had to get a job here and mom just had to cave in. Life was never how I wanted it to be.. I really just couldn't wait to get out on my own. I looked out the passenger window and counted the palm trees. My dad was playing an old AC/DC cassette tape and was drumming along to the beat. "Y'know kiddo, life in Los Angeles could be good for ya. Your writing could really take off here." I rolled my eyes and sank deeper into my chair. He sighed "I'm really trying here, Lil. Most kids would be psyched to be this close to Disneyland." I scrunched up my nose and turned to look at him. "I'm not a baby, who gives a crap about that place?" As much as I pretended not to be interested in Disneyland, I was actually looking forward to monthly trips to Disneyland, we'd only been twice in my life so far, and I was really hoping to go more often now that we were only an hour away.. plus the beach is also literally right there, but I couldn't let on that there might be a positive spin to this otherwise hopeless move.

"Your mom and I are really struggling, I know you know that, but I think a fresh start is what we all need." I scoff and turn back towards the window. It was really sad, dad really was trying to fix things, at least with me. He'd been having a difficult time at work, which led to a lot of gambling and drinking. But this new job at the movie studio had really pulled him back up from rock bottom. It just sucked for mom, grandma died last October, and grandpas heart condition was fixing to take him any day now. She always said she'd stay in Salt Lake until they both passed, but she really didn't have another option.. not unless she wanted to get a divorce, but no one saw that happening, and my dad made it clear that wasn't an option. We lived in a loose lipped community, we would've been the hottest gossip since polygamy.

The houses started getting nicer looking after we got off the highway, about ten minutes and a thousand palm trees later dad turned into a neighborhood and the parade of vehicles followed us in. "Alright kid, keep an eye out for 936 Berro Drive! That's the house!" I sat up a little straighter, looking at all the numbers. 926, 928, 930... we were getting closer. A few moments later, we pulled up to the house on the very edge of the street. 936 Berro Drive wasn't a mansion, that's for damn sure, but it was a pretty nicely sized two story home. White stucco for the most part, with some brick accents. Mom had definitely not approved of this house. She hated mixed mediums in architecture. 'Just keep it one damn design' she'd say.. She was a very wood siding kind of gal. Los Angeles homes were not her forte. I opened the door to my green Volkswagen Golf and got out of the car. I pulled my long auburn hair up into a ponytail and followed my dad to moms car. She parked in the street so the moving van would have some space to pull up. "Well here we are, huh Lilith?" She smiled and pulled me into a hug. I leaned into it and she patted me on the back. I tried to be gentle with mom, she always seemed like she was going to break if I was too mean to her. She got enough of that from dad, and I just wanted to see her happy.. She didn't want to leave Utah either, and that was abundantly clear. She forced a smile as she looked at the abysmal pattern of the house and the red door that welcomed her to her new home. "Let's take a look inside, shall we?" Dad jingled the keys in front of us and started walking up to the door. We waited behind him while he fumbled with the lock. When he finally opened the door, our mouths fell to the floor. The foyer was gorgeous, whatever my mom hated about the outside was magically forgotten about when she saw the inside. "Henry, this house is beautiful!" She whispered, putting a hand on my dads shoulder. He smiled at the both of us and gestured for us to follow him. We passed the stairs and went through the archway into the kitchen, my mom had always dreamed of having an all white kitchen, and she sure got it. White cabinets, white appliances, white back splash. It was exactly how she'd always described her dream kitchen. "That over there is the dining room" He said pointing to the left "and that is the den." He walked back towards the foyer and started down the hallway "This is the master bedroom for mom and I, this is my studio, and that" He said pointing to the door at the end of the hall "is your mothers office." It was perfect for them! They both had their own rooms to escape from one another, that was absolutely something they had lacked back in Utah. They shared a 'creative space' and it was a constant disaster.

We exited the hall back into the foyer and my dad gestured up the stairs. "After you, kiddo." I started up the stairs, expecting to find my bedroom, a guest bedroom and a bathroom.. Boy was I wrong. At the top of the stairs was a loft area, to the left was the door to my bedroom, and to the right was another door. "Your bedroom is a second master bedroom, you have a bathroom in there. That door over there is _your_ studio, and this loft is your space for your friends to come and enjoy." I laughed "If I make any friends, dad. I have to make friends first." I was already visualizing how things were going to go. "We'll buy you an extra TV and a couch for the loft area, maybe even a bean bag, who knows! We'll have to go furniture shopping when we take you school shopping, wont we?" I turned and grinned at my dad "You're definitely making up for taking me away from Utah with all this bribery, old man." He patted me on the back and went back down the stairs, leaving me to gawk at my new space. "And you never know! I met some kids from up the street when I came down to sign the papers! Maybe you'll meet them at school!" I smiled and slowly turned around to go down the stairs.

I walked out the front door and passed some of the movers, my mother was in her natural state, ordering people around, directing boxes and pieces of furniture upstairs and downstairs. She ran a tight ship, so the truck should be unpacked in no time. I walked over to my car and popped the trunk open. I leaned in to grab a milk crate full of my records. When I stood up, I noticed someone at the house across the street from us looking out their window. The person looking out the window looked young, maybe that was the kid dad was talking about. I used my free hand to wave at the person, and they waved back. The milk crate in my right arm started slipping from my hands, so I turned my attention to making sure I didn't drop my most prized possessions. I walked up the steps six times, all while avoiding movers just trying to get my car cleared out. I only had one or two more boxes left and I figured I could get them upstairs before dark. I walked back out to my car to find the person from the window looking at my car. He looked up at me and smiled. "You like No Doubt?" He asked, pointing to one of my many band centric bumper stickers. I nodded, unsure of what to say. He was gorgeous. His hair was blond and shaggy, it curled at the ends by his ears and when he smiled, he had slight dimples in his cheeks. His brown eyes stared into my green ones, waiting for an answer that wasn't coming. "That's pretty cool, they're going to be playing in Hollywood next month, we should go see them!" I laughed, finally finding some courage "How can I go see them with someone I don't even know? We'd have to become friends first, neighbor kid." I walked towards him and he reached his hand out "Hi, I'm Tate, you waved at me earlier." I reached my hand out to shake his. "I'm Lilith, it's nice to meet you." His hands were _so_ _fucking soft._ Like how, on Gods green earth were his hands _that_ soft. He smiled at me and I realized I'd been shaking his hand for a moment too long. I laughed a little bit and let go of his hand. "Well, I've got to get these boxes up to my room." I said pointing to the two boxes left in my trunk. He moved away from the car to let me open it and then moved back towards the boxes "I've been watching you bring boxes up for the last hour and a half, let me help with these ones." He said picking up one box, he moved his head to the side as if to say to put the other one on top. I shook my head "No, I'll carry one of them! You don't have to carry both!" He raised an eyebrow and half smiled at me "Just put the box on, that way you can close the trunk." I bit my lip and smiled a little bit. I picked up the box and placed it on top of the other one. He walked towards the house and after I locked up the car, I followed him in. My mom came into the foyer from her bedroom and stopped when she saw us. "Oh. Hello there." Tate stopped walking and said hello to my mother "I'd shake your hand, but I'm helping Lilith with her last two boxes." He smiled and headed up the stairs. I shrugged at my mom and she smiled a suspicious grin. "He's a cutie" she whispered after me. I felt my cheeks turn bright pink and I turned around towards her. "Mom! Stop." I whispered back. He pretended he didn't hear her, but I could see him laughing at the top of the stairs.

He walked into my room and I followed him in, I had put the newest Rage Against The Machine album on awhile ago, and it was still playing. He placed the boxes on the ground and he sat near my records and CD collection, flipping through what I had unpacked. "Looks like we have a lot of music taste in common." I sat down with him, the last few movers were leaving things in the loft since we were in there. He pulled my Nevermind album, still plastic wrapped, out of one of my crates. "Holy shit!" He said, inspecting the cover further "Is this signed?" I nodded and dug through my collection to find my other signed one "I had them sign Bleach for me too!" He held the albums to his chest and closed his eyes "Do you know how lucky you are to have these signed? Kurt Cobain is like.. He's my idol." His eyes opened and he was grinning at me "You are the coolest. I'm glad we're friends." I smiled back at him. "Which one of those is your favorite?" I asked him, this was the first time in a long time that I'd had a conversation with another Nirvana fan besides my own father. He held Bleach out in front of him "You can't beat the original." He lowered the album and kept looking through what I had. I smiled and enjoyed sitting in my new room, listening to music with my new friend. The nice quiet time was ruined by my mother calling for me "Lilith! Come on down! Bring your new friend too, his mother is here!" I groaned and looked over at Tate who stared at the floor. "She can't let me have a damn moment to myself, I swear to God." I stood up and offered him my hand to help him stand up. He grabbed my arm and pulled up, when he stood up we were dangerously close, everything in me screamed to let go of him, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. "Lilith! Lets hustle!" My dad called. I let go of Tate's arm and cleared my throat. "We might as well get going." I sighed. He followed me down the stairs. The woman I could only assume was his mother stood at the front door holding an apple pie in one hand and her daughters hand in the other. She grinned at me and her daughter waved. "I see you've already befriended my son, Tate." She laughed and turned to my mother "Which is a blessing, Tate sure could use some friends." I could feel Tate tensing up next to me and I raised an eyebrow at his mother. My mom kind of laughed the comment off. "I'm Constance Langdon, this is my daughter Addy." Addy waved at me and I waved back "Its nice to meet you! We can be friends too!" She said excitedly. I smiled at her and nodded "I'd love to be your friend too! I love the braid you have in your hair. Maybe you can teach me how to do that sometime." Her mother scoffed "You think she could do that on her own? I help her with her hair, but maybe I could show you sometime, sweet cheeks." I stared at her, smiling all the while. I turned towards my mother "Unless you need us to crowd the doorway, may we be excused? I'm having some trouble setting up my record player and Tate was just going to help me out." My mom nodded and I turned back to Constance. "It was lovely meeting you, I won't keep your wonderful son for too long!" And I turned around. Tate stood by my father for a moment more and then followed me up the stairs. Constance cleared her throat and practically threw the apple pie at my mother before saying her goodbyes and returning to her home. When we got back to my room, Tate looked out of my window and laughed "I've never seen someone out freeze the Ice Queen before. That was cool." I grabbed my record player and set it on top of my entertainment center. "Plus, I just realized you can see my bedroom from your window." I walked over to the window and waved at his window. "Hi Tate's bedroom."

The rest of the night was spent setting up my record player and listening to albums. Tate organized my CDs in alphabetical order and I unpacked my clothes and put them away. After my music was in order, he set up the TV and the VHS player. By the end of the night, around ten in the evening, my room was completely unpacked. "It looks amazing, thank you so much for your help." I smiled at him he smiled back, but something in the background caught his eye. "What are those boxes?" He walked past me to the boxes in the hallway labeled 'NOT TRASH, BUT STILL GARBAGE.' I walked quickly to get in front of him. "They're nothing." I said as I threw myself over them. He laughed and nudged me out of the way. "We're friends, c'mon, what's in here?" I sighed and pulled one of the boxes open. "They're my awful paintings." I reached into the box and grabbed one of my better pieces and handed it to him. "Paintings, poems, random things. My parents gave me that extra room to work on my art and my writing, but I have no need for any of it. I suck." Tate was still looking at the small canvas I'd given to him, it was a self portrait that I wasn't particularly fond of, and yet his mouth was slightly open in awe. He licked his lips and turned the painting towards me. "Would you paint me? Please?" I was shocked. I expected anyone outside my family to be critical of my work, but he seemed genuine. "Really? You want me to paint you? What else, do you want me to write you a poem?" He shuffled through my box to find a piece of parchment with writing on it, he stopped, read the poem, moving his lips with the words, and once he had finished, he lowered the paper, folded it, and put it in his pocket. "I'll keep this one for myself, but if you manage to write me one specifically about me, then I'd gladly take one of those too." I was taken aback. "Can I keep this one too?" He asked, holding the self portrait up. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just nodded. "You're wonderful." He whispered the words to me, and they were so sincere and kind. I felt myself blush. "Feel free to take them, they're yours if you really want them. You could come over some time this week and I'll paint you. I just need paint and more canvas." He reached his arms out to hug me, which caught me by surprise. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and I, being much shorter than him, wrapped my arms around his chest. "I'll take you to the best craft store I know of tomorrow, how's that sound?" I nodded into his shoulder and smiled. He pulled back and smiled at me. "It's getting late, I'd better head home." I nodded and turned to close the box. He was heading down the stairs already "Hey, I'll walk ya home! Give me a second to go grab my shoes." He beamed at me and nodded "Sounds great!" I ran back into my bedroom and shoved my shoes on. I was about to leave my room when an idea struck me. I ran to my bookshelf and grabbed the item I was looking for and tucked it into the waist of my shorts.

We walked across the street, him holding the canvas in his right hand, and me fidgeting with my hair that I'd let down an hour ago. "I really like the color of your hair, there aren't any redheads here. You're super rare, which is really cool." I laughed and hopped off of the curb. "Some people call being rare weird. I'm definitely more weird than anything." When we crossed the street he stopped. "You've got to stop doing that. I've only known you for a few hours and I can already tell you spend a lot of your life putting yourself down. Why is that?" He asked and I looked down at the sidewalk. I shrugged "My parents I guess. They're supportive enough, but I still don't feel like anything I do will ever amount to anything, not like what they do for a living at least." Tate wrapped his arm around my shoulder and started walking towards his house with me. "Well don't worry, you'll amount to something great, I cant wait to see what it is." When we reached the sidewalk up to his house we stopped. "This is me!" He gestured towards the massive brick house and my eyebrows went up instinctively. Compared to our house, this one was a damn mansion. "I'll wait here until I see you get into the house safe, okay?" He asked. I nodded, my hands getting kinda shaky. "I have one last gift for ya before I leave." He smiled and waited patiently. I reached around and grabbed the plastic wrapped case out of my shorts and brought it around for him. "Here." I said, shoving the CD into his hands. It took him a second to realize what it was in the poor lighting, but when he did, he shoved it back at me. "No, I can't take this. It's literally the Holy Grail." I pushed it back towards him "Hey, I already have one signed. This one is for you." He was hesitant, and was still trying to give it back to me when I stopped him. "Tate, I came here fully expecting to be completely miserable and have zero friends. In just a few short hours, you've already proved that you're one of the best friends I've ever had. If you keep Bleach and I keep Nevermind, it's like we have best friend CDs instead of those best friend bracelets. Please keep it.. It would mean a lot to me." I raised my eyebrows with a hopeful look in my eye and he rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well after a speech like that, it's hard to say no." He reached his arms out for a hug, and I accepted. When he pulled away, he leaned down to kiss my forehead. "You're really too sweet for your own good. Stop being so hard on yourself." I was very thankful for the bad lighting because my face was absolutely bright red at this point. "Goodnight Lilith." He whispered at me and I smiled back. "Goodnight Tate."

I walked across the street in a daze, when I reached my porch I turned around and waved at Tate before I walked into the house and locked the door. I said goodnight to my parents as they unpacked the kitchen ware, and led myself up the stairs to my bedroom. I opened my window and looked out across the concrete to his window. Where, just as I had hoped, he was waiting up for me. Smiling that disarming smile.


	2. Window Paine

The alarm buzzed at 8:30. I leaned over and smacked the thing and rolled back into the fetal position. I wasn't quite ready to get up, but I knew my mother would be in here if I pressed snooze again. And I really wasn't sure if I wanted that. Her morning greetings are normally really peppy and full of positive attitudes, but a wake up call today would be a different story. I came home after that forehead kiss bright red. Maybe it was a California thing? Maybe people are just really affectionate here? Utah is full of prudes and people who think its a sin to hold hands.. So maybe? All I knew is that I wanted to keep that moment to myself. I hadn't really had much luck with guys, the two boyfriends I'd had in the last four years were very demanding and selfish. I'd never been, like, courted or anything.. If that's even the right word to use for this. I pulled a pillow over my head and groaned into it. '_I'm getting ahead of myself.'_ I thought with a sigh. Even though I knew he was probably just being nice to the new girl, I couldn't stop thinking of all the times he kept looking over at me as I unpacked. Or when we were going through my records and he'd prop his arm up on his knee and rest his face against his face and just kind of smile at me.. But that's crazy. I just need to be thankful that he's even my friend. I wouldn't have anything to do today if I hadn't have made a friend. I laid around in bed for a few more minutes, watching the sunlight hit the dust particles through my window. When the alarm went off for the second time, I sat up and turned it off. I swung my legs off the bed and stretched my arms up to the sky, and reached my toes out as far as I could without falling off the bed. After I was done stretching, I stood up and shuffled across the room towards my closet. I scratched my stomach as I looked at the clothes I'd managed to unpack. I grabbed another pair of shorts from the shelf and took my favorite The Smiths shirt off of one of the hangers. After a quick shower, I got dressed and looked in the full length mirror mom had put in the closet. I sighed and tucked my shirt into my shorts. I left the closet and headed to the dresser. I opened the top drawer and grabbed a black belt. I ran it through the loops and walked over to my window. California mornings weren't so bad, you could see the pollution, but our neighborhood was quiet, so there weren't a whole lot of cars driving through. I dared to look over at Tate's window and smiled when I saw him there. He was walking around his room and getting ready as well. He was facing away from me, holding up two shirts that, at least from the distance I saw them at, looked exactly the same. I laughed a little bit and walked away.

I shoved some socks on and pulled my white high tops on over them. I was tightening the laces when my mom knocked on the door. "Lil, are you decent?" I cleared my throat and finished tying my shoe "Yeah mom! Come on in!" I stood up and turned away to grab my purse. When I turned around, she stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, and Tate was behind her. He had on some raggedy jeans and a black t-shirt. His hands were in his pockets and he was grinning so widely, I thought his smile might fall off his face if he continued for any longer. "Tate came by and said you guys had plans for today, so I figured I'd let him in, but I wanted to make sure he wasn't walking into anything shocking." I felt the heat starting to rise in my cheeks. I rolled my eyes and walked towards her to grab Tate and drag him past her into my room "Mom, please. You're so embarrassing!" She and Tate both had a good laugh at that, and I reached out and grabbed his forearm. "Are you headed out?" I asked, popping a quizzical brow. She nodded "I start my new job today! Dad already left, but I have less of a distance to drive, so I figured I'd at least make you some coffee and pop a bagel into the toaster!" She smiled at Tate and continued "If you want anything, feel free to help yourself." He smiled back at her "Thanks for the offer Mrs. Mason, I had breakfast before I came over though." She nodded and looked at me "I left twenty dollars on the table and the number for mine and dads offices on the fridge, call if you need anything, be safe, and have fun!" She waved goodbye to Tate and blew me a kiss before she walked down the stairs and out the front door. We stood there in silence for a moment, listening to her drive away. I kicked the carpet with my shoe and looked over at him. "Wanna head out after I eat breakfast?" He nodded and gestured for me to lead the way. 

We sat at the dining room table and I ate my bagel quietly. Why was he being so quiet? Did I do something wrong? I took a sip of my coffee and he cleared his throat. I looked over at him, and he was grinning mischievously. "I saw you spying on me this morning." He said it so smoothly, like I was actually doing that. I choked on my coffee and pulled the mug away from my mouth. "I wuh- was not spying- ack- on you!" I stopped defending myself long enough to cough and clear my airways of coffee. He propped his elbow on the table, and laid his head on his hand. He laughed at me as I tried to stop choking. "I'm just teasing." I knew for a fact that he hadn't seen me while he was trying to decide which shirt to wear today, so when else would I have been 'spying' on him? I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and took a deep breath. "How do I know you weren't spying on_ me?_" His eyes quickly darted away from me, and for the first time since we'd met the day before, I saw him blush. My lips pulled into a wide smile and I pointed an accusing finger at him. "I knew it! You were spying on me!" His hands shot up in front of him in surrender "Hey, you're the one with no curtains! I look out my window every morning." I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my coffee. After I swallowed I dared to glance at him "See anything interesting?" I asked, knowing for a fact that I got dressed in the bathroom, far away from the window. He shrugged and returned his head to his hand. "Your little morning stretches are pretty adorable." My cheeks dared to betray me, so I covered my face with the coffee mug.

Note to self: Buy curtains to hide embarrassing morning routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time around, just wanted to get a little more writing out of my system for the night.


End file.
